Growing Up
by Daughter of Lestrange
Summary: Kendra is finally older and able to have her relationship with Bracken! Rated K for the smooching
1. Chapter 1

((NOTE: Kendra is at the very end of her senior year now, and Seth is a sophomore.))

Chapter 1

Questions

Kendra was on the couch, snuggled in Bracken's lap. Now that she was 18 and legally an adult – as far as her own world was concerned – Bracken had decided it would finally be appropriate to officially begin dating. Their feelings for each other had been quite obvious for three years now. Her mom had been pestering her about it for just as long. Seth had been teasing her for the same amount of time.

It was rather disheartening for Kendra to see all of her friends at school with their boyfriends. Bracken had no reason at all to attend as there was no guarantee they would have the same classes. She didn't want him to suffer the boredom. He'd been in prison for too long already. Her friends had teased her for having an imaginary boyfriend for months – until Bracken had decided to start picking her up from school. They had been speechless. He made a regular appearance now, not only at the end of the day, but during lunch. Kendra was allowed to leave the campus, leaving Seth fuming that she was getting fast food without him. She and Bracken had started taking his order, picking up the food and bringing it back so they could all eat together. Kendra noticed that he made it a point to escape before lunch ended, so he wouldn't have to witness their affectionate displays.

Still, she always felt better when they got home and it could be just the two of them. As long as they could scoot outside or up to her room. Her mom tended to fuss over them. Good natured as it was, it was embarrassing. It never seemed to bother either of her parents that he was really horse, or that he was centuries older then her. In fact, the fact that he was so ridiculously old almost made them feel better. It was hardly believable. There was hardly anybody walking around that was his age, not even in his world.

Kendra yawned lazily. It was wonderful to relax and be at least somewhat alone with the man she loved. Her parents had gone, but Seth was still in the house. Her grandparents had gone to bed already. They had put in a movie. A bowl of popcorn was on the table, but it was so far untouched.

"What would you say," the movie's narrator began. "Of a 21 year old woman who suffered a horrific death, all to protect the one she loved?"

"I say bury her before she starts stinking the place up," Seth called from behind them.

Bracken chuckled. Kendra rolled her eyes.

"Must you?" She groaned. "Don't you have some goats to watch a season premier with?"

"Oh no, this is _much_ more entertaining! I can have TV anytime," he replied.

He came up behind the sofa and Kendra hit him in the face with a pillow. Seth humphed.

"So grumpy. You're just upset that I'm runing your little plans." He winked at Kendra.

"What's that supposed to mean?:

"This might have fallen out of your backpack," Seth said, holding up a bright pink flyer. "You're just trying to butter him up so you can him to go to -"

"Be quiet!" Kendra hissed.

"I was right!" He cheered. "I knew it! Well, don't be shy, just ask him!"

Kendra hopped up off of Bracken. Seth was taller then she was now, and had developed a lot more muscle. Still, she was pretty strong herself. She started pushing him toward the back door.

"I should've known you were just in here to be a pain! I was trying to wait. Now that you've ruined everything, you can go visit your cable mooching friends, Newel and Doren." Kendra yanked the pink paper out of his hands and crumpled it up.

"Aw, but I want to see his face when you ask him," Seth pouted.

"OUT!" She cried.

She shoved Seth out the door and shut it. Why did he have to spoil her surprise? She wasn't sure Bracken would even like the idea. Kendra still wasn't sure she liked it herself.

"What has you so upset?" Bracken asked.

"Nothing," she answered bitterly.

"Please, Kendra." He put his hand behind her neck. "What is it? Where are you wanting to go?"

She sighed. "It just... it's this." Kendra handed him the paper she'd wadded up. "It's sort of silly."

"If this is something you would really like to do, I would never think it's only silly. It seems to be important. You haven't shoo'd Seth away like that for awhile now."

They both laughed. Bracken carefully undid the paper. The only thing that popped out was the large black word right in the middle. PROM.

"Ah yes, I have heard of this. Some of the fairies mention it from time to time. I heard Newel and Doren talking about it as well. It had to do with something on their television show. Now I hear about from you. So tell me, what is this prom you all speak of?"

"It's a high school dance," Kendra explained. "It's only for seniors. The guys are supposed to ask the girls to go, but I knew you didn't know about it. It's really romantic for couples, I guess, but there's tons of drama about it every year. One of my friends said it's really overrated. Everyone just stands around eating the food they put out, or sitting at the tables talking. Or walking around outside. Hardly anyone really dances. It's kind of dumb, but everyone goes anyway."

"A dance? What type of dancing do you mean?"

"They do everything. It's mostly modern songs, but they do a lot of slow dances."

"I see. What of the attire?"

"Extremely formal. I would have to wear a ballgown and you'd be in a suit."

Bracken's eyes lit up. He had seemed interested before, but now Kendra had his full attention. She had always wondered what he would look like, all dressed up. She had seen him in plain clothes and in full battle gear, but never in a tuxedo. She also couldn't remember him ever seeing her wear any sort of dress. Kendra usually avoided them when she could. He seemed to be very intrigued by the thought of her dressed to the nines.

"I can't imagine why you would be so embarrassed to ask me about this, you goose," Bracken laughed. "It sounds like this could be a lot of fun for us."

"I know, I just wasn't sure how you'd feel about teenage human parties."

"I think it sounds lovely. So, Miss Sorenson, will you go to prom with me?" Bracken took her hands in his and kissed her fingers.

Kendra blushed deeply and couldn't help but giggle. "Yes! I'd love to."

Bracken pulled her into a big hug. From outside, they heard cheering. They turned to look and saw Seth, Newel and Doren all peering in from the glass sliding door. The three of them laughed.

Newel nudged Seth. "You were right. That really was better then our TV show!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Dressing

Kendra had wanted so badly to get her own dress. After all, going to prom really was her idea. Unfortunately, everything she loved was way out of their price range. Anything that was actually within the somewhat narrow money scheme either didn't fit well, looked horrible on her or was just plain tacky. After several days trying every decent store both in and a bit out of town, she was ready to give up.

She flopped herself on the couch. Bracken came not far behind her.

"What's wrong with my pretty girl?" He asked, running his finger through her hair.

"I didn't realize how hard it would be to find a dress. No, I take that back. It'd be extremely easy if we were made of money. I'm starting to think about hitting up the stayers to get some gold. Getting them more DVD's would be cheaper then any dress I've seen so far. I'm sure they'd appreciate it."

Bracken laughed. He gently pulled her up and sat Kendra against him.

"What? I'm serious! It'd be so much easier for me to find your clothes then mine. You can find cheap tux's galore."

"Why don't you then? Get something for me, I mean. I would be more then happy to find something for you. I think our fairy friends would be pleased to oblige me."

"Are you sure? I don't think the fairies would want to have anything to do with it if they know it's for me. They're too jealous."

"You might be surprised. They understand that I'm taken now, even if they don't like it. Besides, with the astrids restored now, they have turned their attention elsewhere."

Kendra giggled. The astrids certainly had been handsome, in a rather bulky, muscle man sort of way. "Alright. But only if they really want to."

"Believe me, if I ask, they _will_ really want to," he winked.

"Bracken!" She scolded. "And here I thought unicorns were supposed to be such innocent creatures!"

"What exactly is that supposed to mean, huh? What does that mean, you silly human?"

Bracken began tickling her. They both laughed until somebody from the kitchen made a gagging noise.

"Get a room," Seth said, coming in to sit on the other couch. "Actually, get two. I don't want to take a chance that there'd be any horse play going on." He paused for a minute, then laughed at his own unicorn pun. "HA! Horse play! Get it?"

"Yeah, unfortunately." Kendra rolled her eyes.

"Hey now, do you want to take this outside?" Bracken grinned.

"Sure, you and what army?" Seth challenged back. "Oh... never mind. I don't think I want to be flown around by faries. That would ruin my image."

"You have an image?" Kendra asked, sarcastically. "Let me guess – you're that boy on Sound Of Music with the lonely goat herd."

They all laughed. Seth hung out with them until dinner. Bracken decided to stay and eat with the family. Kendra told them what they had decided to do about the dress once they were done. Her mom thought it was "so sweet" and Bracken found himself in a huge, mothering squeeze. Kendra blushed. Why did she insist on doing that?

Within the hour, Seth had invited the Newel and Doren over. Her dad began making popcorn, while her grandma and mom broke out the soda. Kendra had almost forgotten it was Thursday – Survivor game show night. After all they had been through, it was nice to see other people get stranded and try to stick it out for awhile. Each of them had their favorites. Kendra's personal favorite was Rupert. He was a sincerely decent guy and usually the only one with common sense. Seth liked Boston Rob. He was more devious and had gotten the girl, apparently. When it was over, Bracken gave Kendra a big hug and eagerly headed home to get the fairies started on the dress. The satyers soon followed and her parents and grandparents headed up to bed.

"That was pretty cool of Bracken to do that," Seth commented.

"Yeah," she replied, then sighed. "Now I just have to pick a place to get a suit. I just feel horrible though. Nothing I buy will be even half as great as anything he's getting for me."

"It could be," Seth said. "And you might not even have to buy anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't you just take one of dad's old suits? He isn't that much bigger then Bracken. Then do something to mess it up and let the Brownies fix it."

Kendra could've slapped herself for not thinking of that. As much as he got a kick out of teasing the couple, Seth certainly was helpful to them sometimes.

"Thank you!" she cheered. "You're a genius!"

Kendra gathered him up in a big hug, much like her mother's. Seth wrinkled his nose.

"Ohh, save it for pony boy," he gripped.

Kendra let him go off to bed then, but not before a world-class noogie.

At the end of the week, Bracken came to the house with a large, hanging bag. Kendra couldn't wait to see what was inside. Bracken's suit had just come back from the dry cleaners. It had turned out even better then she had hoped for. Her mom went to get it from the front closet they had been keeping it in, while they all gathered in the living room, eagerly.

Bracken was told to go first. After all, they may not pay attention once Kendra had hers opened. He gently slipped the plastic off the top of the hanger. The suit shone, almost as if it had somehow been inlaid with silver. The lining around the collar, cuffs and side pockets was a darker black then the rest of the black material. The buttons were velvet. The white collared shirt underneath had a very fine ruffle down the middle.

"Wow, this is amazing! May I ask where you got it?"

"Out of dad's closet," Kendra laughed, embarrassed to admit it. "The Brownies helped it out a lot."

She was shaking from excitement as she pulled the plastic from around the dress. She could feel that it was something a bit poofy already. When it fell away she could only stare in amazement. It was sparkling fantastically. She counted several shades of green all through it – they were definitely woodland shades. It was extremely soft and satiny. The torso was decorated with different organic plants that the fairies had somehow turned into fabric. The lightest shade of green was toward the bottom around where her legs and feet would be. It shimmered in the light, reminding Kendra of the Fairy Queen's pond. She couldn't have even dreamt up a dress more perfect or more beautiful.

It took her a minute to realize the her mom was already practically squealing over it, and her grandma was right behind her. She saw Seth get knocked over as the rushed to see it.

"Oh Bracken," she fussed. "You are such a dear, sweet young man. This is magnificent! We couldn't have asked for anything better. Make sure you thank your mother for us, honey. And especially anyone who made this."

Kendra and Bracken both blushed as her mom planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"It was really no trouble. They had a lot of fun making it. I really can't remember the last time they made a full size dress for a human."

She and Bracken were able to go outside while her mother carefully hung the dress in Kendra's closet. They nestled together in a hammock as she began to thank him herself. He shushed her, telling her that the look on her face when she saw it had been more then enough. It was nearly 9 o'clock before he left and she headed inside. She caught a glimpse of the calender as she headed up the stairs to bed. It was only two weeks until she would actually get to wear that dress. As that reality hit, Kendra was suddenly very nervous.

((Note: If you'd like to see the clothes, then please visit:

Bracken: h.com/getty/p2/2009/11/16/GYI0058933385_

Kendra: .?VISuperSize&item=390154407966

Enjoy!!))


End file.
